DETROIT - After a close call in Sonoma where Rahal Letterman Racing and
Ryan Hunter-Reay (#17 Ethanol Dallara/Honda/Firestone) narrowly missed
a shot at the Firestone Fast Six IndyCar qualifying procedure, the team
rebounded in a major way on a sunny Saturday at Detroit's Belle Isle.

Hunter-Reay earned a spot in the Firestone Fast Six on his single
qualifying lap around the 2.125-mile road circuit, then ripped a spot
away from Marco Andretti to earn the fifth position on the grid for
tomorrow's Detroit Belle Isle. Hunter-Reay's best time of 1:13.3434
(101.604 mph) gave him not only his best-ever IndyCar Series starting
position, but also earned Rahal Letterman Racing its best-ever Indy Car
road-course qualifying result.

"It was another good day for the Ethanol team. I've been saying this
every day but we keep getting faster every session and we did it again
today when it counted," Hunter-Reay said. "We got in the Firestone Fast
Six and gained a spot so we are very happy. We still have work to do to
get into the front row, but we can race from fifth. The Ethanol guys
deserve to be running up front like this and hopefully we do even better
tomorrow."

The Firestone Fast Six is a shootout between the top-six cars after
single-car qualifying, where each of the fastest six drivers get a new
set of Firestone Firehawks and 10 minutes to turn their best time. Sixth
on the grid after the single-car runs, Hunter-Reay turned two laps that
were good enough to move him up to fifth on the grid.

"The Firestone tires have been very compliant with the bumps and I
didn't have any worries - matter of fact it was exactly the opposite,"
he said. "I've been surprised at how good the grip has been on such a
bumpy track like this with so much concrete. They've helped to give me a
lot of confidence in the Ethanol car."